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Richard Howard Straley
Richard Howard Straley''' '''was the chief antagonist of the Angel episode "The Batchelor Party" but was very different from most Buffy or Angel villains in the fact he was not technically a malevolent being, in fact he was actually a fairly nice individual - however he became a villain by human standards due to his attempts to go through with a ritual that while seen as normal to his people is seen as aborehent in the eyes of most humans. History Richard was a member of a peaceful race of demons and wished to marry Harriet, the estranged wife of Doyle. He bore no malice towards Doyle and acted as a good-natured soul to the point Doyle was eventually convinced to sign the divorce papers so that Richard and Harriet could be wed: in return Richard invited Doyle to his bachelor party out of seeming kindness. Unfortunately for Doyle this was the point when Richard became antagonistic as he and his family proceeded to try and force Doyle into performing a traditional ritual that involved Richard literally eating the brains of his future wife's former lover, which just so happened to be Doyle - however in order to do this he required Doyle to give his "blessing". As a result Richard and his family did everything in their power to be the perfect hosts, however Doyle was unaware that they were also plotting against him - as was shown when they deliberately led Angel away from the party via inciting a brawl and knocked him out, presumably to stop him interferring with the plan. When Doyle finally gave his blessing to Richard things changed and the demons swarmed around him to begin the ritual, in their warped psyche Doyle giving his blessing was akin to him consenting to having his brain devoured, they proceeded to lock him in a box similiar to that used by magician's with his head exposed. However Richard and his clan show yet more twisted hospitably as Uncle John gives Doyle an injection that numbs his head, apparently as an act of kindness, before drawing a dotted line across his forehead to indicate were the grisly deed should be performed - a frightened Doyle yells out for Angel's help but finds his calls unanswered. Luckily for Doyle however Angel did awaken and became enraged - morphing into his vampiric form he smashed his way into the room and fought against the gang of demons - going as far as punching Richard in the face after he tried to attack Angel for disrupting the ritual: soon after this Doyle morphs into his own demonic form and joins in with the brawl. At this point however Harriet and Cordellia arrive at the scene, having been informed by Aunt Martha of the demons plan (which she apparently didn't see as wrong) - however after breaking up the fight Harriet gave Richard back his ring and decided she could no longer marry him, disgusted by his attempted murder.. Trivia *Richard's demonic race is known as an Ano-Movic Demon and are a peaceful species despite their somewhat questionable rites of passage, though their ancestors were described as nomadic and violent (which may explain why they have such rituals to begin with) *Although an antagonist Richard and his family were not truly evil, they were merely alien in nature and felt it was their duty to honor their culture - however their cultural traditions were barbaric by the standards of most humans *The reasoning behind Richard's attack was a belief by his people that by devouring the brains of a former spouse the new spouse would gain all the love from the previous relationship. Category:TV Show Villains Category:Live Action Villains Category:Demon Category:One-Shot Category:Anti-Villain Category:Amoral Category:Villains by Proxy Category:Affably Evil Category:Charismatic Category:In Love Category:Grey Zone Category:Buffyverse Villains Category:Karma Houdini Category:Male Category:Man-Eaters